Oil well to be permanently plugged and abandoned

Exploration and production company Trinity’s El Dorado well has not yielded sufficient levels of commercially viable hydrocarbons, and will therefore be permanently plugged and abandoned, the company said in a release yesterday.

The well, which was spudded on December 6 last year off the southwest coast of Trinidad within the PGB licence, was drilled to test a previously untapped fault block. Trinity has a 70 per cent interest in the block from a production sharing contract with State oil company Petrotrin.

“The well was drilled to a total depth of 6,174 feet measured depth and intersected a shallow gas sand in the Pliocene section and marginal thin bedded oil pay in the Miocene section. In aggregate approximately 13 ft of net oil sands and 32 ft of net gas sands were encountered, however these are not deemed commercial and so the well will now be permanently plugged and abandoned,” the company said.

Chief executive Joel Monty Pemberton said the company was “naturally disappointed” but continues to focus on its infill drilling campaign, delivering first oil at its TGAL-1 discovery in the shortest possible time frame.

“The Trinidadian upstream industry continues to evolve in a positive manner and Trinity is well positioned to capitalise on future opportunities to grow its portfolio,” he said.

Despite the disappointment, Trinity has had double success with two of its first three exploration wells in TGAL-1 in the Galeota Licence off the east coast.

In February 2012, the company struck oil in its first exploration well, with a potential yield of 32 million barrels. Last December, the company’s third well also hit the black gold jackpot with a find that had the potential to produce 50 to 115 million barrels.